I’m always intrigued by optical illusions, especially those drawings with two pictures hidden in one.  Here’s an example one of my favorites, an image you may have seen before:

Can you see the young woman in the picture above?  Can you see the old crone?  (If not, you’ll find hints at the end of this post—but I hope you’ll challenge yourself before you take a peek.)

What I love about these illusions is how different things can look depending on our perspective.  That’s also what I love about writing and…come to think of it…about life.

In my favorite types of books—romances—heroes and heroines fight to overcome their differences, resolve their conflicts, and find their happy-ever-afters.  They do this by meeting each other halfway, otherwise known as compromising.  After much trial and error, they’re able to look at the situation from both sides.  And by the end of the story, each can see the other’s point of view.

That’s true for real life, too, isn’t it, whether we’re dealing with someone else or just trying to come to terms with something within ourselves.

We each might dig in our heels to fight for our side in an argument, look hardest at the list of “cons” when it comes to making a purchase, and dwell much too long on the negative aspects of a situation.

But we can’t come to an agreement with each other, make a well-informed decision, or see the bright side of anything if we aren’t willing to look from a different angle.

If you’re struggling to see two women in the one image above, here are a few hints:  the young woman is facing away from us; the crone is face forward.  The young woman’s jawline is the old crone’s nose.  The young one’s neck ribbon is the old one’s unsmiling mouth.  The young one’s ear is one of the old one’s eyes.

One picture, two images.  All it takes to observe them both is the willingess to look at a situation from a new perspective.

See what I mean?

All my best,

Barbara